(Beaujeu) “3,2,1… Beaujolais! »: several thousand people celebrated with fanfare on Thursday just after midnight the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau in Beaujeu (Rhône), the historic capital of the vineyard, like almost everywhere else in France.
The Beaujolais vineyard is located in the north of the Rhône department and in a few communes of Saône-et-Loire.
As is customary, on the third Thursday of November, a barrel of the famous early wine was pierced following a count made over the microphone during the traditional Sarmentelles festival, of which it was the 35th edition. Five days of festivities, theme evenings, torchlight parades and other tastings followed in the region.
“I found it very very fruity and I think it reflects very well the season we had with a very dry, very sunny summer and a very mild spring. So an excellent one,” Christine, a wine tourism guide in Beaujeu, who did not wish to give her name, told AFP.
“Beaujolais is not an old wine, it’s not a classy wine or anything, I think it’s a wine for celebrating and having a friendly time together.” underlined Samuel Bernout, 19, a BTS viticulture-oenology student.
In Lyon, the piercing took place as usual in the historic district of the city, on Place Saint-Jean, where the crowds thronged.
Beaujolais Nouveau represented some 16.5 million bottles in 2022, or around 25% of the vineyard’s total sales. Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages de garde and 10 crus complete the production.
“If certain plots suffered from episodes of heat in August and September, the wines remain fruity and the heat was beneficial from a qualitative point of view,” indicates Philippe Bardet, president of Inter Beaujolais (the inter-profession of AOC Beaujolais wines).
“2023 returns to a vintage that is more measured in its climatic, agronomic and precocity characteristics compared to 2021 and 2022, with in particular the start of the harvest at the very beginning of September,” explains Bertrand Chatelet, director of Sicarex Beaujolais, the Beaujolais wine and oenological research institute.
Around 40% of new Beaujolais produced, Gamay varietal reds and rosés, are exported, according to 2022 figures from Inter Beaujolais. Japan remains by far the main customer with 2.3 million bottles ahead of the United States (1.2 million bottles) and the United Kingdom (707,000 bottles).
Since 1951, producers of Beaujolais with controlled appellation have benefited from a premature marketing date, in particular due to the shortened manufacturing process of the primeur.
